...an award-nominated Irish blog on Irish history and Irish politics-from today and yesterday:all 32 Counties !Updated a number of times each week . (Mirror site here)

" A wealth of information..."

"1169 And Counting is a wealth of information on our Republican past and present , and demonstrates how the Irish political landscape , like that of any nation, will never be a black and white issue..."

IRISH BLOG AWARDS 2017 - ooops! It seems that our entry application was "not completed in time to be considered.." (?) and, as such, we are not now in the running. But we wish all the best to the successful entrants and to the organisers, and we hope all goes well for them on the day!

Saturday, December 14, 2002

The old Irish song ' The Old Bog Road ' was penned by Teresa Brayton , who was born in Kilbrook , Co. Kildare , in 1868 . The song itself is a ballad about being exiled from Ireland , while another of her songs was adopted by Na Fianna Eireann , the Republican scouting organisation , as its marching song . Teresa was known locally as an Irish patriot and a staunch Republican , and she became an assistant teacher at Newtown in Kildare . She emigrated to America in 1908 but returned home frequently , and was a friend to , amongst others , Constance Markievicz and Helena Moloney . After the 1916 Rising and throughout the Tan War she supported the Irish Republican cause in America by distributing pamphlets and fund-raising . She also wrote a song about ' The Manchester Martyrs ' ( Allen , Larkin and O Brien ) . Teresa Brayton died in America on August 24 , 1943 .

When he was British Foreign Secretary , Douglas Hurd , former Six-County Direct Ruler , stated -- " We need to make it clear that we don't accept the partition of Bosnia by force . The idea that simply because you or your friends have occupied swathes of terrority , the world simply packs up and accepts that , will be shown to be wrong " . ' Hear Hear ' , Douglas , and so say all of us !

Friday, December 13, 2002

In 1963 , the British pulled out of Kenya . The Mau Mau 'terrorists' that fought against the British presence were treated much like the Irish ' terrorists ' , and are now fighting the Brits again !
They are taking their former oppressors to court to seek compensation for human rights abuses during the 1950's and 1960's . More than half a million Mau Mau belonging to the Mau Mau Trust welfare group have hired British lawyer ( fight fire with fire ! ) Martin Day to fight their case . They claim that British soldiers regularly beat and tortured the Kenyans with rifle butts and glass bottles before putting them to work as slave labourers . It has been stated that some of the men were effectively castrated by the British soldiers , while female prisoners were raped repeatedly and with extreme violence . The brits , as can be expected , deny the claims and have said that the majority of 'official ' records(ie their own files) were destroyed in the war .
On the other hand , Mr Blair , we Irish have plenty of paperwork ......

Liam Mellows , the Irish Republican leader , predicted in the Treaty debate on January 4 , 1922 -- " Men will get into positions , men will hold power , and men who get into positions and hold power will desire to remain undisturbed and will not want to be removed " ;
Human Nature again - Mellows was warning us about those that fool themselves into thinking that they can cosy up to the British but still maintain their opposition to the British presence : the Brits , of course , are past masters of pulling people like that ' the extra mile ' ie into the establishment . They will try it now , again ,in Kenya , and are doing it now , in Ireland . But not to all of us ...

Thursday, December 12, 2002

A group called ' Ailtiri na hAiseirghe' , Irish for ' Architects of the Resurrection' , entered the political scene in the Free State in the early 1940's , with the intention of creating a ' Gaelic , Christian ,Corporatist (fascist) state ' . They apparently supported the Portugese dictator Salazar , and condemned "the cumbersome indirect methods of our imposed, corrupt , unchristian , Godless and inefficient brand of parliamentary democracy " . They stated that there should be "room for only one national party " in the State , and that under its rule we would be " a model for the whole world ,and our superior civilisation would enable Ireland to control not only the Atlantic , but the Pacific ... " .
They also claimed that such a State " could dictate to dictators and in co-operation with Divine Providence it could settle the affairs of the universe for another two-thousand years ! In the 1943 election , four 'Resurrection' candidates amassed four thousand votes between them - in !944 , seven 'Res' candidates got six thousand votes , all but one of them losing their deposits . In the 1948 election they fielded one candidate and received only 323 votes . Perhaps Fine Gael should change its name and improve its fortunes ......
About ten years ago , a Mr Geoffrey Wheatcroft was a columnist with the (ever-so) British ' The Sunday Telegraph' (perhaps he still is - its not a newspaper I 'take' , as they say...) . In one of his columns , Geoffrey stated - " Fifty years ago , Serbs and Croats were massacring each other on a scale that makes the Ulster(sic) problem seem as trivial as it indeed is . Partition has been the greatest boon and benefit Ireland has enjoyed this century .It is the essential condition without which the southern state could not have survived as it has " . I say-steady on , Geoffrey , old man !
I have just removed 'The sunday Telegraph' from my Christmas card list ...

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

In May , 1956 , while speaking to the Aden Legislative Council , British Lord Lloyd stated~ " The importance of Aden both strategically and economically is such that we (British Government) cannot forsee the possibility of any fundamental relaxation of our responsibilities for the colony " -- In November 1967 , Britain withdrew !
Speaking about Cyprus in 1954 , Henry Hopkinson , a Colonial Office Minister of State , said~ " It has always been understood and agreed that there are certain territories in the Commonwealth which , owing to their particular circumstances , can never expect to be independent " -- In August 1960 , Cyprus became independent ...
In ???? , speaking at ////// British PM ~~~~~~~ stated that due to the proximity of the two isles/our stiff upper lip/ for the sake of our position on the world stage/ the British will continue to exercise a jurisdictional claim in Ireland-- however , in ..........

An extract from MIchael Davitts ' The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland' states -- The genius of misgovernment has never been more wilfully blind in its methods or more persistent in the folly of political unwisdom than in the ways and means of Englands rule in Ireland . Laws and force have come to us across the sea in their most provocative form and applicaton , while concessions were never wisely or tactfully made to a cry of justice , but always to the pressure of turmoil , illegality or insurrection . Every stage of the Anglo-Irish struggle attests this fact in its history " .
Those that left the Movement in 1986 and are now in the pay of the British -"attempting to change things from the inside" - would do well to remember that it was tried before ; the only position the British will allow them is that of a poacher turned gamekeeper . And our history is littered with those ....

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

By early 1931 it was obvious to the Free State administration that what they termed " the normal process of the law " could no longer deal with Republican activity in the State , and Free State President Cosgrave introduced the necessary paper-work to set up a Military Tribunal on October 14 , 1931 . Eamon de Valera , who had left the Movement in 1926 and formed the Fianna Fail party , stated - " They (the then IRA) are to be taken into these secret tribunals and maltreated and nobody is to hear a word about it and nobody is to be allowed to raise his voice in protest. That is the situation. But tradition is a hard thing to kill. They have been reared in that tradition . That is the Gospel that kept Irish Nationality alive through all the centuries of persecution . These are the men whom we want to crush now . These are the men who are represented as terrorists , these who never thought of themselves . They are simply the rats that are to be squelched . These are the people who are ready to give everything that they had for Ireland , and well we know it , and now they are being deserted by the majority of their people . They have been deserted by old comrades who can no longer see any hope of success on the line they are adopting , by people who were with them originally but who are so far away from them now that the road which they are following is leading diametrically in the opposite direction . They are brave men anyway : let us at least have for them the decent respect that we have for the brave " .
---- Words from a heavy heart , obviously , but words the man was to put into action .

More words from another anti-republican ; " The only solution for dealing with the (P)IRA is to kill 600 people in one night- let the United Nations and Bill Clinton and everyone else make a scene , and it is over for 20 years " .
--- Former British Defence Minister Alan Clark , October 12 , 1997 (see ' Ireland On Sunday' newspaper , 12/10/97 , page 15) ; that's the attitude that got the British into trouble in all the countries they colonised - indeed , it is the reason they set out on their conquest . And they still have'nt learned !

Monday, December 09, 2002

One of this State's elected representatives who sits in Leinster House and is paid 1438 Euro a week for doing so has what hundreds of thousands of ordinary working-class people have'nt got - a medical card , which he has used three times since his election last May . Politicians in that institution received a pay-rise in 2000 and , in January 2001 , they received another increase ( of 18.7per cent) , then an extra 4 per cent in October last plus another wage increase last week (announced after the budget) which has them at their present wage ; after ten years ' service ' they get 1670 Euro a week , based on present wage structures . On top of their salary , they also get 625 Euro a week in various expenses , not all of which has to be vouched for with receipts . Martin is apparently a quick learner~ Leinster House has no shortage of financially and morally corrupt members - now , since last May , Ferris ( the ' good ' apple) has gone into the barrell ( of bad apples ) to change them or , at the very least , to ' keep an eye on them ' but ... human nature kicked in and another wealthy politican decided he , too , wanted more !
Plus ca change , plus c'est la meme chose .

A Mr George Marshall was ' Regional Director of BBC Northern Ireland(sic) ' in 1937 and is best remembered by us for the following quote - " There is no such thing today as an Irishman. One is either a citizen of the Irish Free State or a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(sic) . Irishmen as such cease to exist after the partition " . George may be gone but no doubt his sentiments live on in the minds of his BBC colleagues .

Sunday, December 08, 2002

The Informer Reynolds~
The meetings that Reynolds attended of the ' United Irish Supreme Executive' were detailed gatherings to plan the Rising - he supplied chapter and verse on these to his English paymasters . He also compiled and handed over information which led to the arrest of most of the membership of the Leinster Directory of the United Irishmen : the arrests took place at the home of Oliver Bond , in Bridge Street , Dublin , in March 1798 . The arrests were a severe blow to the organisation and irreparably damaged the prospects of a successful rising taking place the following May .
Reynolds , thinking that his ' job ' was done , refused to comply when ordered to testify at the ' trial ' of Oliver Bond and John McCann , the Provincial Secretary of the Leinster Directory , and so was placed under arrest himself ( in May 1798) ! However , being the weasel that he was , he struck a deal -- in exchange for personal immunity he agreed to appear in court to give evidence about certain figures and , for a lump sum of £5000 and a pension for life he agreed to tout on the people arrested at Bond's house .
Reynolds was no doubt proud that , thanks to him , three members of the Directory - McCann , Billy Byrne and Bond were found guilty in July 1798 . McCann and Byrne were executed while Bond died in jail the following September . The Informer left Ireland for his own safety and was employed abroad by the English authorities . He settled in Paris and died there on August 18 , 1836 . I can only hope he had many a sleepless night .
Lloyd George again ~
In his book 'Year 501; The Conquest Continues' , Noam Chomsky tells how former British PM Lloyd George noted approvingly that British diplomacy had prevented the 1932 Disarmament Convention from banning the bombardment of civilians . Lloyd George observed - " We insisted on reserving the right to bomb niggers " . God knows he sent enough people , including coloureds , to their deaths ...